Clinical residency programs, as well as programs that are primarily focused on research but whose training activities are at least 25% clinical, are eligible to participate in the Match. Research fellowships whose training activities are less than 25% clinical are not eligible to participate in the Match.

Residency programs that are members of APPCN are required to participate in the Match if they have positions available that begin training in 2018. To qualify for membership in APPCN, a program must submit a self-study that has been reviewed for compliance with the specific training guidelines and standards set by APPCN. Information on membership requirements can be obtained from the APPCN web site.

Programs that are not members of APPCN may also participate in the Match provided they meet certain minimal qualifications as outlined in the Statement of Qualification for Non-Members of APPCN, agree to abide by the APPCN Match Policies, and pay a Match registration fee. However, participation in the Match does not imply that a non-member program complies with the training guidelines and standards for membership set by APPCN.

The List of Participating Programs will indicate which participating programs are APPCN members and which are not APPCN members. A list of programs that are members of APPCN can also be found on the APPCN web site.

Rules of Participation

All residency sites and applicants that register to participate in the APPCN Resident Matching Program (the "Match") must abide by the APPCN Match Policies, the Schedule of Dates of the Match, and the terms of the Agreements they accepted when they registered for the Match.

Participating programs must offer all their postdoctoral clinical neuropsychology residency positions that begin training in 2018 through the Match. Programs that are primarily focused on research training but whose training activities are at least 25% clinical may also participate in the Match; any such program that participates in the Match must offer all its eligible positions through the Match.

Programs may not make any offers of appointment to, or require any commitments from, any applicant prior to the release of the Match results. Programs may rank on their Rank Order Lists only those applicants registered in the Match.

Similarly, applicants may not make any commitments to any participating program prior to the release of the Match results. Applicants may rank on their Rank Order Lists only those programs participating in the Match.

An applicant who receives an offer in advance of the Rank Order List deadline ("preemptive offer") from a program that is not participating in the Match may hold that offer and participate in the Match by submitting a Rank Order List of programs that includes only programs that the applicant prefers to the preemptive offer. If the applicant is matched to a program, the applicant must decline the preemptive offer and accept the results of the Match. If the applicant is left unmatched, the applicant can accept the preemptive offer after 12:00 p.m. noon Eastern Time on the Match Results Release Day.

Programs must not request that an applicant state how the applicant intends to rank any program and applicants must not communicate their ranking intentions to programs. The communication of a program's ranking intentions to an applicant is not permitted, except under very specific circumstances as provided for in the APPCN Match Policies. In particular, an applicant who receives a preemptive offer from a program that is not participating in the Match may inform a participating program about that offer; if the participating program intends to rank the applicant in a manner that will guarantee a match, the program may so inform the applicant (please refer to the APPCN Match Policies for complete details).

The Rank Order Lists submitted by each program and applicant are the sole determinants of their respective order of preferences for the Match.

The Match results constitute a binding commitment from which neither the applicant nor the program can withdraw without mutual written consent. A program must offer an appointment to each applicant with whom it is matched, and the applicant must accept the offer and attend the program, unless both parties agree in writing to release each other from the Match result. A program may not offer a position to any applicant who was matched elsewhere and subsequently not released from the Match.

Violations of the policies of the Match will be reported to the APPCN Board of Directors. The APPCN Board may decide to impose penalties on those who violate the policies.